1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to electrical switching apparatus and, more particularly, to an apparatus, such as a circuit breaker, for mounting or plugging-in to a mounting block, such as a plug-in mounting block. The invention also pertains to a mechanism for removing a circuit breaker from a mounting block.
2. Background Information
Electrical switching apparatus, such as circuit interrupters, include, for example, circuit breakers, contactors, motor starters, motor controllers and other load controllers having a trip mechanism. Circuit breakers are generally old and well known in the art. Circuit breakers are used to protect electrical circuitry from damage due to an overcurrent condition, such as an overload condition or a relatively high level short circuit or fault condition.
It is known to provide an electrical switching apparatus including a molded housing having molded slots between phases, with insulative interphase barriers or terminal shields disposed in those molded slots.
It is known to provide an electrical switching apparatus, such as, for example, a circuit breaker, that is mounted or plugged-in to a mounting or plug-in block, which includes line and load power busses. This permits a maintenance person to remove the circuit breaker by pulling the mounted circuit breaker away from the plug-in block. However, problems might arise during the removal process. For example, known conventional circuit breakers do not include convenient surfaces that can be readily and safely grasped by the maintenance person to pull the circuit breaker for removal from the plug-in block. Also, other known surfaces that might be grasped by the maintenance person often are proximate electrically conductive components, such as, for example, line or load terminals. As a result, the maintenance person may experience difficulty, if not dangers, during the removal process.
Accordingly, there is room for improvement in electrical switching apparatus that is mounted or plugged-in to a mounting or plug-in block.